Preston Cole (Earth-5875)
Vice Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole (service number 03956-26127-PC) was an officer of the UNSC Navy and a veteran of the Secession and the First Contact War. He was the effective leader of most of the Navy from 2525 to 2543 through the UNSC's war against the Covenant, and he was best known for being the creator of the Cole Protocol, an UNSC law meant to defend the location of Earth from the Covenant. He was a strategic genius, being able to defeat the Covenant in every battle he fought, though at the cost of most of his ships, leading his battle record to be as equal, or even better, than that of SPARTAN-IIs. Retiring shortly after the Secession duo to a series of both public and personal problems, Cole remained in the dark until the beginning of the First Contact War, where he was given command of a battle group by the Office of Naval Intelligence, to fight the Covenant on Shanxi. After becoming a victor in the battle, he turned into the greatest military leader of the war and would slow down the Covenant for the next decades, until his death at the Battle of Psi Serpentis in 2543. Biography Early life Preston Jeremiah Cole was born on November 3rd, 2470, to Missouri, on URNA, Earth. He was the only boy out of his parents' three children. His father was a farmer, and his mother was an officer of the CMB, although she herself had a criminal career decades prior duo to protests against high taxes. Cole's great-grandparents fought in the Rainforest Wars and the Interplanetary War. Because Troy refused the government's help to finance his business, Cole had to work in order to support his family. Cole was a student at the Wallace Fujikawa High School. His teacher considered him "a naturally intellectual boy", noticing Preston's obsession with over-analyzing things, which she though came across as annoying for "the tenth time". After scoring a high grade at his algebra class, he was accused of cheating by his peers and the school's staff, and so he did the test again, only to have a slightly worse score. A social worker was later sent to Preston's house following claims at his school that he was being overwhelmed at home. There, however, they found no evidence of physical or psychological abuse. At only sixteen years old, Preston wrote a school paper he titled "The Viability of Extended Colonization", where he theorized possible conflicts that could occur with the ''Domus Diaspora'' and the decentralization of Earth as an established power, and, although this work was not well received by the school, it was technically correct in prediction the Secession years later. His grades started to diminish, likely attributed to his eventual lack of interest in school and his parents' demands. After gaining interest in traveling to the UEG's colonies, Cole enlisted in the UNSC Navy, seeing it as the only to escape from a life he long hated. After graduating from high school, he did not attend college, and his poor scores and lack of connections made it substantially harder to enlist at a prestigious academy, leading him to enlist as a crewman. Career at the Navy After enlisting in the UNSC Navy as a non-commissioned recruit on September 21st, 2488, Cole spent six weeks in vaccuum and microgravity training, essential to every Navy officer. After graduating with top honors, he was assigned to command a vessel of the CAA, where he was promoted to crewman apprentice on October 22nd, 2489, as the ship prepared a new city. The ship's ensign ordered Cole to do the calculations of the ship's slipspace routes out of lazyness. This led Cole to develop a new method of calculating slipspace input parameters, which impressed his fellow crewmen, leading Preston to be recommend by him to join the Jon Grissom Academy. Secession and retirement In 2494, while he served aboard the Las Vegas as Second Lieutenant, he became involved in the Callisto Incident, which was what eventually sparkled the Secession and an all-out war for what was once a mere small rebellion. The [[UNSC Callisto (Earth-5875)|UNSC Callisto]] was captured by Insurrectionists of the Sovereign Colonies, which killed all of its crew. The UNSC then sent the a battle group of three destroyers, including the [[UNSC Gorgon (Earth-5875)|UNSC Gorgon]], to deal with the insurgents. They eventually found the lost ship on March 2nd, 2494, in the Draconis system, and prepared to attack it, but the boarding insurgents detonated a hidden nuke inside an asteroid, which launched incoming debris at the destroyers, taking one of the destroyers out of the equation and heavily damaging the other two. Cole, the only conscious officer aboard the Gorgon, took control of the ship. He signaled to the Callisto and ordered their surrender. When they did not comply, Preston ordered the remainder of his crew to remove the Las Vegas last Shiva-class nuclear missile from its silo and transport it to the ship's cargo bay. When the Callisto approached and docked with the Las Vegas, the Shiva was sent directly into the insurgent-led ship, mostly destroying it from the inside. The fake distress signal sent by Cole was a stroke of genius of such unimaginable proportions that the UNSC Central Command whether they would award him with the Legion of Honor or have him court-martialed, as such an act was a direct violation of space law. After the incident, the Secession spread to other systems, such as Eridanus. .]] After his impressive feat, Cole was promoted to First Lieutenant, and only weeks later to Commander, taking helm of a small frigate which he used the patrol the Outer Colonies. After major engagements against Insurrectionist forces and pirate ships for the next months, he became a Captain, continuing to serve aboard the Gorgon, which became the first destroyer honored to receive a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon. Cole was used by the UNSC Navy as a symbol of quelling any sympathy for the Secession through the Inner Colonies, and thus he was hailed as a hero by deeply unveiled propaganda. He led many battles against Insurrectionists aboard the Gorgon, including three battles against the frigate ''Bellerophon'', which was later named Bellicose; in all three engagements, the ship was able to escape from Cole. His over dedication to the military led Inna to divorce him in 2500, taking their children with them. Cole wrote for them, but he was never replied, which led him to believe Inna was burning the letters he sent. On June 2nd, 2501, Preston fought against insurgents twice in the Theta Ursae Majoris system, leading to the crew of the Gorgon to become completely exhausted. The Bellicose suddenly appeared, with the captain of the ship communicating with Cole through a series of tête-à-tête messages. When both realized the other had no ammunition remaining, the Bellicose left the system. He became obsessed with finding the Bellicose, searching for it in five different systems, where he laid ambushes in preparation for a possible arrival, but in the end he was unable to find it. He later participated in two new engagements against Insurrectionist corvettes and a privateer ship. After completing a mission in the Outer colony Roost, in September 2501, he started a relationship with Lyrenne Castilla, a bartender in the world. After the Skirmish at Capella, Cole took a month to stay at Roost, where he married Castylla in November 2502. After news that Castilla was pregnant, Cole returned to duty in the Theta Ursae Majoris system. It was eventually discovered Lyrenne was a high-ranking Insurrectionist, and captain of the Bellicose. Once the Office of Naval Intelligence discovered it in 2503, Cole's integrity was put into stake, and he was ordered to return to Reach for debriefing. Duo to Admiral Michael Stanforth's efforts and Cole's status as war hero, Cole was kept from facing a court-martial, after undergoing an extensive interrogation by ONI. After Preston's debrief, the Bellicose was declared lost with all hands at the Battle of Theta Ursae Majoris. The ONI agents managed to break his spirit with the news, but he remained stoic and silent during the whole conversation to preserve his former wife's honor. Cole was then relocated to a desk job and promoted to Rear Admiral so he could keep quiet. During his tenure, he made multiple requests and proposals for the UNSC, all of which were denied, mainly those related to deal with the Secession in more effective manners. After serving for eight months, he was quietly offered retirement, receiving an honorary skip-promotion to Vice Admiral, which he accepted. Living in an apartment on Earth, he faded from the public, and was only ever mentioned in the media twice duo to his two women younger than him, as well as their divorces. He suffered two heart attacks, and on May 11th, 2525 his liver, heart and endocrine system failed duo to cirrhosis, which he needed to replace with cloned transplants. First Contact War on his apartment.]]Following the loss of contact with Shanxi, the CAA scout ship ''Argo'' was sent to investigate the occurrence, but never returned. The CAA then sent its Battle Group 4, led by Captain Maribeau Veredi and consisting of the ships ''Heracles'', ''Arabia'', and ''Vostok'', to investigate. Upon arriving in the Epsilon Indi system, the team discovered Shanxi has been attacked and glassed by the Covenant, as one of their ships attacked them as soon as they exited slipspace. Before their escape, however, the Heracles received a Covenant transmission in English, where their Hierarchs stated: "Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument." Veredi and his vessel became the only survivors as soon as they returned to Reach. The UNSC High Command soon placed full alert over the threat, assembling forty ships to retake the planet. They chose the retired Cole to lead the assault: according them he was a "fallen hero" whose "scandalous retirement" would serve as an easy scapegoat for the UNSC's attack in the possibility of it failing. Not only that, but Cole's brilliance was well known through the Secession, especially Operation TREBUCHET. He was visited by two UNSC commanders at this apartment in Amaterasu, convincing him to lead Battle Group X-Ray against the alien invaders. By November 12th, 2525, Cole prepared himself for the battle, reviewing data from the previous encounters at the First Battle of Shanxi and the Battle of Chi Ceti IV, where he studied the enemy's energy shielding and determined it would be hard to take down during battle. Prior to the battle, Cole was given control of the ''Valiant''-class super-heavy cruiser [[UNSC Everest (Earth-5875)|UNSC Everest]]. The Auton synthetic Sekmet was chosen as Cole's executive officer aboard the Everest. On March 1st, 2526, Battle Group X-Ray arrived at Harvest and moved towards the planet. Upon descending into the planetary plane, the battle group discovered a massive Covenant ship nearby the planet. Preston Cole increased the velocity of his ships, planning a parabolic course that would allow the battle group to fight against the super-destroyer via slingshot maneuvers around the planet. Accelerating towards the ship, the Vice Admiral ordered his ships to fire at will upon the warship. When the ships fired their MAC guns and Archer missiles at the alien ship, the energy shielding of the super-destroyer stopped the weapons from damaging its nanolaminate hull. As Cole started to understand the formidably energy shielding and the extraterrestrial plating, the Vice Admiral supposed an overwhelming attack would be needed in order to suppress the shielding and take down the ship. .]] The super-destroyer soon responded to the human attack, firing countless of pulse laser turrets and plasma torpedoes upon Battle Group X-Ray, destroying four of its seven destroyers. The battle group then attempted to pierce the ship with multiple nuclear weapons, leading to the super-destroyer's destruction of three more ships. Seeing their loss, an officer attempted to have the group retreat, but Cole belayed his order, and the battle group continued its slingshot course through Shanxi. Cole then had the battle group perform a new trajectory towards the super-destroyer, ordering the remaining ships of the battle group to fire their weapons against the ship. The UNSC ships then approached the Covenant vessel, leading to it firing upon them, destroying seven of its nine frigates. The remaining ships were able to fire their MAC guns against the super-destroyer, alongside their entire complement of Archer missiles and Shiva-class nuclear missiles. This attack led to the destruction of two of the battle group's ''Halcyon''-class light cruisers, the weapons impacted against the Covenant ship, deactivating its shields, and leading to the UNSC Everest and the remaining three ''Marathon''-class heavy cruisers to fire their remaining missiles against the ship's unprotected hull and destroy it. "Cole Campaigns" and the Cole Protocol Immediately after the super-destroyer's destruction, Cole had the remaining of his battle group steer from the remnants of the ship in order to investigate for possible survivors of his lost ships, although he was unable to find anyone who did. With the loss of 97% of his group compared to a single one from the Covenant, Cole realized the difference between the strength and capabilities of both the UNSC and the Covenant. The Office of Naval Intelligence used of this victory to greatly exaggerate the events in order to encourage enlist in the UNSC Armed Forces. It was initially covered up as an Insurrectionist incursion, but the existence of the Covenant was eventually released to the public. Upon his return to Earth, Cole was promoted to admiral. The Covenant were less than impressed with their defeat, and yet the Prophet of Regret ordered that the "Victory of the human system" to be celebrated through Covenant space. The food rations of its member species were taken down for the next three weeks, as they were ordered to publicly pray. The commanders that failed into destroying every last human ship were publicly executed. being interrogated by Preston Cole.]] When Cole proved to be the UNSC's greatest military asset, he was given command of most vessels and fleets of the UNSC Navy, as UNSC High Command desired to use him as a scapegoat if the Covenant proved unstoppable. Hailed the "Hero of Shanxi", Cole took command of the Third Fleet, launching a series of attacks and counter-attacks against the Covenant from 2526 to 2532. On December 24th, 2530, three Covenant ships, led by a ''CAS''-class assault carrier fought against the UNSC's Third Fleet, led by Cole. During the battle, Cole was able to take down all the enemy's forces, directly destroying two of the ships. The assault carrier survived the attack, and attempted to flee to the human colony Groombridge-1830, where it was disabled by the Everest, crash-landing on the planet. After the carrier crash-landed, it released its troops in an attempt to kill all humans they could in the surface, but they were destroyed by a coordinated attack between the UNSC Navy and the UNSC Marine Corps, gaining the UNSC a rare victory against the Covenant. After the UNSC attack, two tactical teams were able to capture a wounded sangheili survivor, taking him to an enclosed UNSC base on Waterford, Lemuria. The sangheili was interrogated by Cole, where the admiral learned of the Covenant's desire to extinguish humanity after they were deemed "unclean" by the Hierarchs. There, Cole also discovered the Covenant was unaware to the size and distribution of humanity, and he would start writing a protocol to ensure the protection of Earth and the surviving colonies. Cole returned to Shanxi in 2531, commanding the Third Fleet against the Covenant forces, which had been able to take over the Epsilon Indi system yet again, sparking the Shanxi Campaign. On January 3rd, 2531, as the battle neared its end, Cole received an S.O.S. calling for the protection of the [[UNSC Prophecy (Earth-5875)|UNSC Prophecy]], prompting Cole to send the [[UNSC Spirit of Fire (Earth-5875)|UNSC Spirit of Fire]] to do so. He later gave Captain James Cutter his approval of traveling to Arcadia in February 3rd, 2531, after the Spirit of Fire discovered the Relic the Covenant was searching for led to the Procyon system. Later, Cole and the Third Fleet traveled to Arcadia in order to assist the local UNSC garrisons into combat the Covenant forces during the First Battle of Arcadia, successfully repelling the alien attackers. By 2535, Cole finished writing the Cole Protocol, a new UNSC law that would prevent the Covenant from discovering the location of Earth and other human colonies or settlements, forbidding humanity's greatest enemy of gaining data. The law forbade any retreating human vessels from setting direct courses to Earth, the Inner Colonies, and the surviving Outer Colonies, as the Covenant was capable of tracking ships' slipspace vectors, using it to calculate the vessel's destination. The law also dictated that any UNSC or civilian ship had to self-destruct, wiping out its shipboard artificial intelligence and data matrices to stop the Covenant from getting their hands on them and discovering colonial locations. After the Battle of the Rubble on May 8th, 2535, Lieutenant Jacob Keyes was able to evacuate one million refugees fro the Rubble to Falaknuma. While many of his fellow UNSC officers were discontent, as most of the refugees were Insurrectionists, Cole showed respect and admiration of what Keyes had done, stating that men like Keyes would win the war, before promoting him to commander. He later supplied SPARTAN-II Black Team with a Prowler so they could fight against Covenant ships in space. Cole and the Third Fleet fought against the Covenant in the Leonis Minoris system in 2537, where three human colonies were glassed by the Covenant. By 2541, Cole participated in twenty-three more engagements against the Covenant during the First Contact War, winning every battle he fought in, although at the cost of many of his own forces. Only in two engagements he retreated after being overwhelmed, only to return with more reinforcements later on. Because the Third Fleet lost its ships with every single battle, CENTCOM continuously provided Cole with newer ships, further dedicating Cole on winning the war. He believed himself responsible for every human life that was both saved and lost by the Covenant. Battle of Psi Serpentis and death What became Preston Cole's most crucial and pivotal battle of the First Contact War came at the Battle of Psi Serpentis, leading a fleet of 162 ships against two combined Covenant fleets, which in their total composed 300 ships, in the Psi Serpentis system. The battle started when Cole's first group, Battle Group Ia, exited from slipspace at the far side of Veperidae, a gas giant, leading the Covenant fleet to engage them; they were foiled when the battle group split into two, attacking their ships from both sides of the gas giant, and leading the Covenant ships themselves to split. After having two-thirds of their forces destroyed, the Covenant fleet regrouped to attack Cole's main fleet. Before they attacked, an entire Insurrectionist fleet appeared, led by the ''Bellicose'', and all of them charged the Covenant fleet. The Insurrectionist ships blew against the Covenant ships and disappeared in slipspace. Severely weakened, Cole's fleet prepared to leave with the severely weakened Covenant, when a new Covenant fleet with 200 ships emerged from slipspace to support the weakened fleet. Preston then ordered his ships to retreat, and he stood alone aboard the UNSC Everest to face them. He then approached Viperidae and powered all of the Everest's non-essential systems, while leaving his missile silo opened. Sending a transmission to the Covenant where he openly offended them, he challenged the alien attackers to pursue him. The Covenant then rushed towards Everest, only for the human ship to plunge into the gravitational pull of the gas giant, and they were then unable to escape. The Covenant fired many plasma torpedoes against the Everest, but the magnetosphere of the planet gave interference to the plasma weapons, which prevented Cole's death. He then insulted the Covenant again, saying "Is that the best you can do? Watch what one unworthy human can do!", only to fire all ammunition his ship still had into Viperidae: the resulting attack led the super-pressurized hydrogen of the planet to compress the atmosphere spontaneously and generate a nuclear fusion of the ''Shiva''-class nuclear missiles to explode Viperidae into a brown dwarf. As the micronova ceased, all Covenant ships were obliterated alongside the Everest and Cole himself. Legacy plaque at the ONI Alpha Site.]]After Cole's death, the UNSC proclaimed an entire day of mourning on July 28th, 2543, for humanity to grieve for the loss of, arguably, its greatest hero. A painting titled ''Admiral Cole's Last Stand'', had been presented at HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6, in Sydney, Australia, showcasing the decisive Battle of Psi Serpentis, as well as having his name praised and placed at the Memorial of Heroes, at Alpha Site, New Mombasa. Following the death of Cole, the Covenant continued their onslaught towards the Outer and Inner Colonies with more ferocity, and with the death of its greatest military and strategic leader, they mostly fell to the hegemony's might. Personality Category:Earth-5875 Category:Characters of Earth-5875 Category:Males of Earth-5875 Category:Humans of Earth-5875 Category:Deceased characters of Earth-5875 Category:UNSC Navy officers (Earth-5875) Category:Cole family (Earth-5875) Category:Tactical Analysis Category:Advanced Technology Wielder Category:Military Personnel Category:Army at Disposal Category:Piloting Category:Driving Category:Brown Eyes Category:Brown Hair Category:Heterosexual Characters Category:Males Category:Created by Draft227 Category:UNSC personnel (Earth-5875)